Pete Buttigieg
Historical Details
Position on Issues
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines"
Against| Read My Position
Buttigieg signed a letter from a group of mayors opposing the American Health Care Act, a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act/"Obamacare." The letter stated:
"the AHCA would:
"eliminate health care coverage for 24 million Americans; eliminate Medicaid Expansion, which covers 1.2 million Americans with serious mental illness and substance misuse issues; eliminate the Essential Health Benefits (EHBs) requirement in Medicaid, which means states could eliminate coverage for mental health and substance misuse treatment; cut federal funding to Medicaid through the use of a per capita cap or block grant, which would severely limit mental health treatment given that the majority of behavioral health spending comes via Medicaid; create a 30% surcharge penalty for individuals who have a gap in coverage, which would directly affect those suffering from mental illness and addiction who are at greater risk for prolonged gaps coverage; eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF); allow states to exempt themselves from covering mental health and addiction treatment; and weaken parity by allowing large employers to choose minimum benefit requirements from any state"
Other| Read My Position
"When I am president, illegally crossing the border will still be illegal. We can argue over the finer points of which parts of this ought to be handled by civil law and which parts ought to be handled by criminal law. But we've got a crisis on our hands. Americans want comprehensive immigration reform. We've been talking about the same framework for my entire adult lifetime, protections for DREAMers; making sure that we have a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented; cleaning up lawful immigration. We know what to do. The problem is we haven't had the will to get it done in Washington."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2018
"DACA isn't an acronym to us. It's part of the stories of real people who share this community. We stand up for our neighbors."
Against| Read My Position
Buttigieg signed a letter from a group of mayors opposing the American Health Care Act, a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act/"Obamacare." The letter stated:
"the AHCA would:
"eliminate health care coverage for 24 million Americans; eliminate Medicaid Expansion, which covers 1.2 million Americans with serious mental illness and substance misuse issues; eliminate the Essential Health Benefits (EHBs) requirement in Medicaid, which means states could eliminate coverage for mental health and substance misuse treatment; cut federal funding to Medicaid through the use of a per capita cap or block grant, which would severely limit mental health treatment given that the majority of behavioral health spending comes via Medicaid; create a 30% surcharge penalty for individuals who have a gap in coverage, which would directly affect those suffering from mental illness and addiction who are at greater risk for prolonged gaps coverage; eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF); allow states to exempt themselves from covering mental health and addiction treatment; and weaken parity by allowing large employers to choose minimum benefit requirements from any state"
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2018
"97 percent of those gun owners support universal background checks. Do you agree with them or with the NRA?"
Against| Read My Position
"I'm from Indiana, so I have a lot of friends and supporters who don't share my views on choice. I understand that it's an intensely felt and very personal issue for a lot of people. But there is no decision more personal for a lot of women than this one. I believe that a male government official like me does not belong in the middle of decisions that are best left to women and their doctors."
For| Read My Position
Buttigieg signed a letter to federal officials stating, "Defunding Planned Parenthood would have a devastating effect, preventing millions of people with Medicaid coverage from accessing basic health care including birth control and cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers."
For| Read My Position
Buttigieg implemented a minimum wage increase for South Bend, Indiana city employees, and encouraged private businesses to follow suit.
"One thing I've learned in this job is don't wait on Congress, and that's why we're trying to lead by example here in South Bend."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"Codify the right to an abortion into law."
For| Read My Position
"We will work with Congress to develop an energy efficiency rebate to cover 30% of the cost of the improvements for residential homes and apartment buildings, including more efficient heaters, pumps, and appliances, as well as insulation, window and door upgrades, and switching homes from heating with oil or gas to clean electricity."
For| Read My Position
"We will extend and modernize the investment and performance tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal, and other clean energy technologies and long-duration battery storage, as well as for long distance transmission using performance measures and phase-out levels."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"We must make public college truly debt-free for lower-income families. We will do this through a state-federal partnership that makes public tuition affordable for all and completely free at lower incomes-combined with a large increase in Pell Grants that provides for basic living expenses and keeps up with inflation. Middle-income families at public colleges will pay zero tuition."
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2018
"This #southbend job creator is not impressed with the President's tariff. It's making things harder for growing businesses that create good jobs in our area. We deserve better."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2019
"Last year we filled 22,100 potholes and paved 28 lane miles of road. I'll gladly take $5,000 #pavingforpizza funds from @dominos for our pothole work. But what would really make me glad is a real national infrastructure policy, and a sustainable long term model for road funding."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"Eliminate incarceration for drug possession, reduce sentences for other drug offenses and apply these reductions retroactively, legalize marijuana, and expunge past convictions"
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"Pete supports achieving Medicare for All through a pathway that helps improve people's lives along the way while allowing the economy to adjust. He calls this 'Medicare for All Who Want It'. This plan makes a Medicare-type public option available on the exchange and invites people to buy into it: if corporate insurers don't lower costs to deliver something dramatically better than what is available today, competition will create the glide path toward Medicare for All."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"Pete supports achieving Medicare for All through a pathway that helps improve people's lives along the way while allowing the economy to adjust. He calls this 'Medicare for All Who Want It'. This plan makes a Medicare-type public option available on the exchange and invites people to buy into it: if corporate insurers don't lower costs to deliver something dramatically better than what is available today, competition will create the glide path toward Medicare for All."
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2019
"Climate change is a national emergency. The absence of a wall is not."
For| Read My Position
"We do not have the resources that we need to address this problem. What's frustrating is that there are proven levels of treatment that we know can break the cycles of addiction and safe lives."
For| Read My Position
"I would support an initial freeze agreement that would have North Korea cease production of fissile material and end nuclear and missile testing, all verified by international inspectors, in exchange for targeted sanctions relief, which could be reversed if the North Koreans did not uphold their end of the bargain. After this initial deal, we would need to proceed toward dismantling facilities and then the weapons themselves. This could be accompanied with corresponding measures on sanctions relief, as well as substantive progress on building a lasting peace regime and normalizing relations. It has to be a two-way street. The only way to achieve complete denuclearization is to recognize that we have to address the core issues of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula in tandem, and that will require concrete steps on both sides."
For| Read My Position
"Mayor Pete, as he's often called, said he'd like to increase the cap of income eligible for payroll taxes from what it is now at $132,900 to about $250,000, while speaking at an AARP Forum in Iowa. 'I have a very personal stake in making sure that Social Security and Medicare are there when you retire and when I retire, and if you look at the numbers, that won't happen without some adjustments,' he said."
For| Read My Position
"Russian aggression against Ukraine is an attack on the agreed principles and rules of European and global order that protect global citizens beyond Ukraine, including Americans. Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity is protected by the UN Charter and European security agreements, which the Russian Federation has signed and is obligated to respect. The OSCE mission and Minsk agreement both obligate Russia to resolve the conflict peacefully with Ukraine. We must keep tough, targeted, and effective economic and financial sanctions on Russia as long as it continues to assault Ukrainian territory and citizens, and continues to illegally occupy Ukrainian territory in the Donbas and Crimea.
"But countering Russian aggression also means supporting Ukraine's independence and ability to make and implement sovereign foreign policy decisions by supporting Ukraine's political, economic, and defense capabilities. Although Ukraine is not a formal treaty ally, the U.S. should be willing to help Ukraine develop a modern and capable defense force to defend its citizens, including advice, education, training, and willingness to consider commercial sales of weapons appropriate to the situation. While the US must not exacerbate instability or conflict, we should not shy from responsible defense assistance to a democracy in the heart of Europe that is under assault because its citizens have chosen a democratic European path."
Other| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2018
Buttigieg has not laid out a specific plan regarding student loan debt, but his campaign is generally oriented towards issues that will affect millennials in the comming decades, such as climate change and repaying student loan debt.
In 2018 he tweeted, "it is bizarre that @BetsyDeVosED looks at student loans today and thinks 'wow, defrauded student borrowers have too many rights and protections!'"
For| Read My Position
"My administration will work with Congress to pass an economy-wide price on carbon, which will automatically increase each year. Revenue will be rebated back to Americans, meaning low- and middle-class households will receive enough to be better off economically than they were before."
Against| Read My Position
"I will rejoin our international partners and recommit the U.S. to the Iran nuclear deal."
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Twitter Feed, 2017
"Last year's flood disaster was likely South Bend's first serious taste of climate change. More will come. Pulling out of Paris is a mistake."
